7.11.12

Refined fetish

As much as the leather harness has been de-fetishised by the fashion world, as much as it’s been plucked from the dark corners of the underground and dressed up with tailored suits and crisp white shirts, stuck through with fresh spring flowers and repurposed into something we can walk down the street with, there always lurks beneath it a shadow of taboo. Even as a mere suggestion we know of the things it can represent, even if we elevate it from doing so. But that shadow is a part of its appeal as much as the day is all the more beautiful because we know the night. It’s what’s made more refined versions of the accessory the most surprising and the most appealing in 2012.

In her visually sumptuous style of photography, Emma Summerton takes a fresh, almost minimalist piece of nude leather harness work and takes it back to the sensual side. Scratch that: it’s downright sexual. Styled by Mary Fellowes, there’s no tailoring or florals here: just leathers, corsetry, and unapologetic nudity.